Escrita por Jacques Moralis e Victor Wiljis, foi gravada em 1978 e lançada em 25 de setembro de 1978, no disco Cruisin', o terceiro disco do Village People. Saiu também em compacto, em 17 de outubro de 1978, com The women como Lado B. Foi produzida por Jacques Morali. Chegou ao número 2 do Billboard Hot100. Chegou ao número 1 no Reino Unido. Foi número 1 na Austrália, Áustria, Bélgica, Canadá, Finlandia, França, Irlanda, Itália, Holanda, Nova Zelândia, Suécia, Suíça e Alemanha Ocidental. Número 2 na Noruega, número 3 na África do Sul e número 4 na Espanha. Vendeu mais de 12 milhões de cópias no planeta. É o número 7 no ranking do VH1 das 100 greatest dancing songs of the 20th century. Paste Magazine colocou-a como número 1 da lista das 60 best dancefloor classics. A revista Rolling Stone colocou-a como número 139 da lista das 200 greatest dance songs of all time. Em 2020 entrou pro Grammy Hall of Fame. E também entrou pro National Recording Industry, da Library of Congress. Willis, que fez a letra em Vancouver, Canadá, disse que não escreveu pra ser um hino gay, mas que estava sim falando das coisas agradáveis que dava pra fazer no YMCA, como jogar basquete ou fazer natação.
A letra:
Young
man, there's no need to feel down.
I said, young man, pick
yourself off the ground.
I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new
town
There's no need to be unhappy.
Young man, there's a
place you can go.
I said, young man, when you're short on your
dough.
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways
to have a good time.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's
fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
They have everything for young men
to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys...
It's fun to
stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
You
can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal,
You can do
whatever you feel...
Young man, are you listening to me?
I
said, young man, what do you wanna be?
I said, young man, you can
make real your dreams.
But you got to know this one thing!
No
man does it all by himself.
I said, young man, put your pride on
the shelf,
And just go there, to the Y.M.C.A.
I'm sure they can
help you today.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun
to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
They have everything for young men to
enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys...
It's fun to
stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
You
can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal,
You can do
whatever you feel...
Young man, I was once in your shoes.
I
said, I was down and out with the blues.
I felt no man cared if I
were alive.
I felt the whole world was so jive...
That's
when someone came up to me,
And said, "Young man, take a walk
up the street.
There's a place there called the 'Y.M.C.A.'
They
can start you back on your way."
It's fun to stay at the
Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
They have
everything for young men to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the
boys...
Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
Young
man, young man, there's no need to feel down.
Young man, young
man, get yourself off the ground.
Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay
at the Y.M.C.A.
Young man, are you listening to me?
Young
man, young man, what do you wanna be?
Y.M.C.A.
You'll find
it at the Y.M.C.A.
No man, young man, does it all by
himself.
Young man, young man, put your pride on the
shelf,
Y.M.C.A.
And just go to the Y.M.C.A.
Young
man, young man, I was once in your shoes.
Young man, young man, I
was down with the blues.
Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the
Y.M.C.A.
A versão do Village People:
A versão do Bulletized:
A versão do Walk off the Earth:
